Back in early May, we decided that we would take a last minute weekend trip to Europe. We were already stationed out in NYC that week, so the flight would not be as long [compared to if we flew out of San Francisco].

Our final destination was Milan, Italy. However, we planned it with lengthy layovers just so we could get the most out of our weekend.

We took the red eye into the first stop, Geneva, Switzerland. I never sleep very much on red eye flights, but then again, who does?!

First thing on our agenda, food!

That was the best chocolate croissant I have ever tasted. It must have been the Swiss dark chocolate they used as the filling. Oh, so good! Then, we walked around the airport [yes, to the awesome duty free shopping]. A couple of hours later, we were back in the air on our way to Zurich, Switzerland.

Upon arrival, we found lockers to hold our carry-on baggage. Thank goodness for those lockers because we were anticipating carrying everything while we walked around the city. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, then we took the S-Bahn into Zürich Hauptbahnhof.

We needed to kill five hours, so off we went. We didn’t have an agenda; we thought it’d be more fun if we just roamed the city streets and got lost.

We stumbled upon Augustinergasse. It’s like living history when you walk down these narrow, cobble-stoned paths. The building are colorful with so much character. The window displays in the store fronts are so quaint and thoughtfully put together. It’s definitely a sight not to be missed when you visit Zurich.

Maneuvering the cobblestone pathways and trekking up the hills, we made it to Lindenhof Hill. Here, you get a beautiful view of the center of historic Zurich.

After snapping a handful of photos, we ventured down more cobblestone pathways towards St. Peter’s Church. It was formerly the site of a Roman castle. Its steeple clock is also the largest clock face in Europe [diameter of 8.7 meters].

We continued down random paths and came across Fraumünster. I wasn’t able to snap photos on the inside of the church, but the stained glass windows in there are phenomenal.

…and we walked, walked, and walked some more until we got to Lake Zurich.

We spent some time soaking in the views from the lake and watching the swans play on the water. Soon after, I started to feel hungry again [when am I not hungry?!].

Before we left, I made sure to do a little digging on local eateries. G requested that I find somewhere that had delicious bratwursts and beer, so I found Sternen Grill. Oh my goodness, I can’t even begin to tell you how good this bratwurst was!

Only a couple of hours left to spare, we had to walk back towards the main train station to catch a ride back to the airport. Along the way, I had my camera in hand to capture what we saw.

Had to take pictures of the guy with the keg, hah! G was drooling at the sight of this.

…but before hopping on the train to get to the airport, we had to make a quick detour into Läderach Chocolatier. C’mon?! Slabs of Swiss chocolate and truffles galore?! How could we not?!

So incredibly delicious. They ain’t joking when they say Swiss chocolate is the best! You bet we bought chocolate to take home with us [a lot of it didn’t make it home; we ate most of it on the plane].

After our chocolate endeavor, it was time to head back to the airport. Zurich was fun while it lasted. We hopped onto the S-Bahn, and off we went. Once we got to the airport and picked up our carry-on baggage, it was time to catch our last leg to Milan, Italy.